Is The Sentry #1 actually the rebirth of the Void?

(Image credit: Marvel Comics)

The Sentry has been dead since 2020's King in Black event, but in December 6's new Sentry #1, his powers are alive and well and spreading among several seemingly random people. But with the Sentry comes his villainous dark side, the Void - and that terrible presence is seemingly also rearing its ugly head already.

Spoilers ahead for The Sentry #1

Two people, a young woman named Mallory Gibbs, and a mutant named Farhad Anand, both randomly develop the Sentry's powers in explosive displays, with Mallory blasting out of her apartment leaving a wake of destruction, and Farhad leaving a crater in a basketball court where he's playing a game with his friends.

While Jessica Jones and Misty Knight attempt to track down the missing Mallory and discover what's going on, they learn that the energy signature left behind when she destroyed her apartment building matches that of the Sentry, and that there are more potential energy signatures they can track.

But they're going to have to hurry, as it turns out there's a third person who has developed the powers of the Sentry, a man named Ryan Topper. Unlike Mallory and Farhad, Ryan has already developed some level of control over his abilities - and he's determined to be the only one left with the Sentry's abilities.

Ryan confronts Farhad, and the two engage in a massive, destructive fight, all the while Ryan gloats and revels in his power, his eyes glowing with angry radiance. As the fight goes on, Ryan gains the upper hand, tearing Farhad's arm off (one of the original Sentry's favorite moves) and seemingly obliterating him.

With one less inheritor of the Sentry's powers, Ryan seemingly moves a step closer to truly inhabiting the role of the Sentry. But at the same time, with his apparent bloodlust, he's already looking more and more like the Void, the Sentry's murderous dark side.

Could we be witnessing the rebirth of the Void in Ryan Potter? And if so, does that mean that the Void and the Sentry may wind up being two separate beings this time?

Whatever the case, the mystery is only heating up, with The Sentry #2 scheduled for release on January 10.

Learn all about the comic book history of the Sentry.

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I've been Newsarama's resident Marvel Comics expert and general comic book historian since 2011. I've also been the on-site reporter at most major comic conventions such as Comic-Con International: San Diego, New York Comic Con, and C2E2. Outside of comic journalism, I am the artist of many weird pictures, and the guitarist of many heavy riffs. (They/Them)